Links and tidbits, Thu Nov 4
November 4, 2010
Links and tidbits, Thu Nov 4
November 4, 2010
Tidbits and links about transportation near and far!
- There’s been a recent shakeup in the leadership at TransLink, Coast Mountain Bus Company, and BCRTC: Mass Transit magazine has a good overview of what’s changed.
- Here’s a really nice nod to our transit system from Karen Magill. Thanks Karen!
- Winning posters from an anti-gang poster competition are now wrapped on one of our SkyTrains! Check out pictures of the event and the SkyTrain here, and here’s a Vancouver Sun article.
- Toronto transit news: the Toronto Police board has cancelled the TTC’s special constable service, saying the Toronto Police service is enough. Recently-elected mayor Rob Ford wants to drop the Toronto vehicle tax and declare the TTC an essential service, removing their right to strike. As well, a new chair is to be appointed to the TTC’s board, and here’s what might be in store for that chair.
- Also: here’s an exploration of a unused Toronto subway station! Thanks to cow for the link :)
- Human Transit always has something fascinating going on: here is a guest post about universal fare media, and a critique of an interesting L.A. subway station.
- An examination of time-based vs. distance-based fare structures (via planetizen)
- Lithuanians want better salaries for thin bus drivers!
- Also, check out the Sumner Brothers performing a song on a Calgary Transit bus.
- Did anyone know Apple agreed to spend $4 million to spruce up a train station near their store in Chicago? Did this actually come to pass? Edit: It did come to pass! Photos here and here, plus an article. Thanks LB!
- Fantastic slideshow of the New York City subway from 1917 to the present.
- An article on why public transportation is good for kids.
- A couple of other New York transit stories: here’s a story about a five-year old taking a fish on a New York transit odyssey. And here’s one about how PATH, the New Jersey train line, has become an inviting alternative to the New York City system.
- Waterloo International train station is set to close in London. Here’s an article about the closure and a post about the cost of mothballing the station.
- A cycling talk called Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around was held in Vancouver a few weekends ago: here is a recap from Masters Planning.
- Voony reviews biking in Richmond.
- Dennis pointed out that the Dunsmuir Tunnel east portal has been removed for construction of a building near Costco. Goodbye, old tunnel!
- BART in San Francisco had a huge transit campaign to support the Giants! Also here’s the winner of their first rider contest.
- Edmonton launched its bus service to the airport! Ridership is small but they expect good things.
- Saskatoon seeks a solution to its congested roadways.
- And crazily: here’s a wacky celebrity encounter with Margaret Atwood on Twitter. Not transit-related, but totally amusing!
If you have any items to suggest, or a photo to showcase on these posts, e-mail me at thebuzzer@translink.ca! (Seriously: good photos. These posts need them. Send them along!)
The Apple-funding station upgrade did happen! http://www.ifoapplestore.com/db/2010/10/23/finally-landmark-apple-store-plaza-opens/
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LB: that’s crazy! The station and the adjacent plaza look all kinds of awesome though.
Will there be a liny to my West Coast Express pictures in this or the next links and tidbits?
I have a few comments that you should pass on to CMBC:
The Vancouver technical secondary school, at Broadway and Penticton, currently has a spare bus that runs westbound only on School days at 3:17 at penticton, and it runs to oak. The problem is that the school no longer has short fridays, and therefore, the bus on Friday should also come at 3:17, but it currently comes at 1:45. Another problem is that that bus is far too small to carry a school of 1700 students. There is currently a 99 UBC B line bus that comes at 3:00 at penticton at broadway. Can CMBC possibly delay that trip by 15 minutes, because after school, there are up to 6 consecutive buses that go by full from Penticton to commercial. That 1 special bus that goes to oak is not enough to transport a school of 1700. We need a articulated bus for that trip. It is a long overdue problem.
Isn’t that kind of dangerous?!
…: I’ve sent your note on to CMBC planning now. Thanks!
Mark: What’s dangerous?
Hehe, I’m cited on the page about Toronto’s closed station. :)
A (semi-)interesting piece of trivia: under that old arrangement, a Yonge-University-Danforth train would pass through Bloor-Yonge station twice in the course of its route, once while travelling from north to south, and again while travelling west to east. I know of only two places where the same thing happens today. One is Monument station in Newcastle – and the second is none other than Vancouver’s own Commercial-Broadway.
@David: Thanks for mentioning Monument; I remembered there being another station besides Broadway/Commercial where the metro line loops back to itself. Coincidentally, that’s on the Yellow Line, just as the yellow-coloured Millennium Line passes twice through Broadway/Commercial!
It is doubtful that Waterloo International will remain empty for long. It is built attached to Waterloo Station, which is severely overcrowded and congested – it is Britian’s biggest terminal with 21 platforms. The old Eurostar platforms will most likely be brought into use for commuter services – the problem, I believe is lack of capacity on the approaches to the station. The platforms have been used for diverted trains during engineering blockades outside other termini, or due to derailments closing the lines.
I expect Network Rail will get those platforms in use.
Maybe we should try to get business to help upgrade the Expo line stations. I’m sure some of them would give money if they could write it off as a charitable donation or something like that (for ‘green’ improvements). Glass walls and roofing that covers the entire platform would make for a much nicer transit experience.
Sheba: It’s a lovely idea and I’m sure we would welcome it! I think it’s kind of an isolated incident though, as I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a private business offering to upgrade a station at a cost of millions of dollars with no in-kind advertising or anything. I think part of the luck with the Chicago/Apple station renovation was that the Apple store is SO CLOSE to the station, so its appearance had an impact on the Apple store. There aren’t really a lot of businesses near some of our stations that might have the money or inclination to upgrade everything nearby for their own benefit.
In a similar vein, in previous posts we have talked about sponsorship of stations before, and how little money that would likely pull in — for example, GM Place cost General Motors about $800,000 a year to buy the naming rights, and that’s a venue that gets on national television countless times a year. You can imagine that willingness to pay to upgrade/sponsor a train station with much more limited ad exposure would be worth much less, and in that case, it would start to be a rather ethical question of selling a station’s identity for not very much in return.
@Sheba
Even if we could get them upgraded for free, I would still want the effort and resources devoted to adding more transit to Surrey, and Coquitlam. We don’t have the luxury of thinking in terms of appearances.
Will Translink consider making its new smart card compatible with the above-mentioned universal fare media?
Jason: I think it will all depend on who our provider is and what their specific system is capable of. Three companies have been shortlisted for the project and our project team is currently evaluating their proposals… the decision will come probably before the end of the year.
David M: Beyond simple capacity, I remember hearing that there were problems with the track arrangement heading into Waterloo. When they built the International station, they tried to separate the Eurostar trains from the busy commuter line as much as possible, and I think it’s proved difficult to untangle things again without producing major disruptions to existing services.
TransLink should totally sell the naming rights for Stadium Station to General Motors. That’ll show Rogers for stealing the name of our beloved garage! :p
On a somewhat related note, what nickname do we give the Rogers Arena now? “The Phone Booth,” perhaps?
Fantastic to hear about Edmonton’s bus service to the airport. I remember reading Greyhound being upset about the service. Do you know of any other major city without public transit to its airport? The nerve of Greyhound! I wonder if the LRT will ever be expanded to the airport. It’s cheap to run rail there; the corridor is flat wide and uninteresting. But without ridership, what’s the point?
Oh and I think I’ve discovered a way to get our SkyTrain stations cleaned up and maybe even expanded with no cost to taxpayers!
1. Invite Microsoft to open a store at Broadway and Commercial
2. Wait two months
3. Have Microsoft pay for improvements to the area
If it works, then we could convince them to open a store in Whalley!
http://www.busdrawings.com/Transit/ontario/yrt/viva/2010lfx/
I saw this bus heading westbound on Highway 10 in Surrey on Sunday afternoon and was wondering if by any chance it was heading to the Surrey transit center to be tested by Translink.
Andrew: I’ll see if I can find out. Thanks for the heads up.
Could also be on display at Trans-Expo during the CUTA conference next week.
Andrew: Yep, Dennis has it. Fleet management says they haven’t brought that bus in for testing, but the Canadian Urban Transit Association conference is in Vancouver starting Saturday, and there’s a big trade show called the TransExpo where suppliers demonstrate their wares. That being said, our fleet management staff has said they are definitely going to the show to look all the buses up and down :)
What does one do when a door doesn’t close?
http://www.vancouversun.com/story.html?id=3800601
;-): Well typically it doesn’t happen, as the trains aren’t supposed to leave if the doors aren’t closed! The article says that it was a faulty door though on the Montreal train. Glad everybody turned out safe in the end!
To clarify, I was noticing how people would rather spend time video taping the open doors instead of notifying operators there is a problem…. The Montreal train went for quite a few stations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV3V3IIahXE
That’s scary!! Glad no one was hurt though. A similar incident did happen on our SkyTrain system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm-LjnkBm2s
But it was determined that it was caused by people blocking doors. Another reminder, why you should never block or lean on the doors, it’s only a matter of time before a terrible accident happens.
i agree with Mark, isn’t carrying large articles other than bags/luggage onboard transit vehicles dangerous in an emergency stop situation? what’s the transit regulations about people transporting stuff?